What is RVPI?
RVPI — residual value to paid-in — is the ratio of the current fair value of a fund's remaining, unrealized holdings to the cumulative capital its limited partners have paid in. It measures the value still locked inside the portfolio that has not yet been converted to cash.
Where DPI counts cash already returned, RVPI counts everything still owned, at its most recent mark. An RVPI of 1.2x means the fund is still holding portfolio value equal to 1.2 times the capital paid in — on paper.
Because it rests entirely on valuations of companies that have not been sold, RVPI is the most estimate-dependent of the fund multiples. It is a forecast of value, not a record of it.
How RVPI relates to DPI and TVPI
RVPI is one leg of the standard performance trio:
- DPI — distributions to paid-in: realized cash returned ÷ paid-in capital.
- RVPI — residual value to paid-in: unrealized marked value ÷ paid-in capital.
- TVPI — total value to paid-in: DPI + RVPI, the complete picture.
Over a fund's life, value migrates from RVPI to DPI. A young fund is almost all RVPI — its holdings are unsold and its distributions minimal. As companies exit, that paper value crystallizes into cash and RVPI falls while DPI rises. By wind-down, a healthy fund's RVPI approaches zero because nearly everything has been realized.
Reading RVPI critically
RVPI is the part of a track record most exposed to optimism. A high RVPI late in a fund's life can mean genuine embedded upside — or it can mean a manager is holding companies at flattering marks rather than testing them in the market. The discipline is to ask whether the residual value is supported by recent transactions, third-party valuations, or comparable evidence.
A useful pairing is RVPI against DPI: a fund that is several years old with a large RVPI and a small DPI has yet to prove it can convert its marks into cash. The reverse — low RVPI, high DPI — is a fund that has largely delivered, with little left to debate.